


Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye

by DM500 (DapperMuffin)



Series: You can’t blame gravity for falling in love [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Siblings, Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Dinners, Gay Panic, M/M, Meet the Family, Modern Era, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash, Sharing a Bed, Triplets, and Conan and Connor are identical twins while Richard is the fraternal one, and so are Richard and Connor and Conan, chaotic family dinner, no beta we die like men, sorry for the tags, the 3 Chloes are triplets, when i say gay panic in this case i mean a homosexual who happens to be panicking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:12:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18293828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DapperMuffin/pseuds/DM500
Summary: Gavin enters into a fake relationship to save Richard's pride, gets to meet his family, and struggles with ignoring the fact that maybe his feelings for Richard go beyond that of friendship.





	1. Trust Me

**Author's Note:**

> I finished this chapter early this morning, and trust me, I do have SOME self-control, but not right now, so I'm posting this chapter now because I'm pretty satisfied with it.
> 
> Also, hey, fun fact: I started writing this before I was done with Those Cold Blue Eyes, I was so excited by my own idea.
> 
> ALSO: in this universe, Gavin's an only child because I have other plans for Elijah ;)

A frantic knocking at the door drew Gavin's attention away from his TV show, and, sighing, he stood. His apartment, #900, had never had a peephole, something he truly, deeply regretted sometimes, like when he opened the door to a salesman, or somebody coming to collect the taxes he jokingly claimed to have not been paying for years. When he opened the door now, however, he came face to face with his flatmate, Richard.

  
Richard's face looked panicked, and he smiled apologetically. “I was in a hurry this morning, and I forgot my keys.” Grabbing Gavin's arm, he dragged his friend into the apartment, slamming the door.

  
“I may have accidentally told my family that I have a boyfriend, when, in fact, I do not. Please, you're my roommate, what do I do?” Richard blurted, and Gavin was once again amazed by his ability to spout an unusually high amount of sentences in a single breath.

  
“Whoa, whoa, slow down.” He was sure his face reflected the confusion he felt. “First off, I'm honestly surprised you're single, but yeah, come to think of it, I guess you hadn't mentioned anybody you were dating. Second, why can't you just tell them you're not dating anybody?”

  
Face flushed, Richard groaned, trying to hide his blush with his hands. “I've got two brothers, they'd never let me live this down.”

  
It occurred to Gavin that he'd never heard Richard talk about his family. “You've got siblings? I'm an only child, so…”

  
His blush having receded somewhat, Richard removed his hands from his face. “Yes, I'm a triplet—hadn’t I mentioned it?”

  
Gavin's eyebrows rose. “No, you've never mentioned your siblings before.”

  
Richard hummed. “Really? Well, yes, I've got two brothers, and then I have three older sisters who are also triplets. I've always thought it was odd, but it does happen, so it's not impossible to have two sets of triplets, just extremely rare.”

  
“That's kinda weird, but whatever,” shrugged Gavin. “So, are your brothers annoying like siblings are supposed to be?” He was secretly curious; sometimes he envied other people who had little siblings who annoyed the shit out of them because they even had a sibling to be annoyed by.

  
“Ohhh, yes, all the time. They're both very sweet, but they get on my nerves. Conan is the most innocent person you'll ever meet, and he acts like a child. Connor's more mature, but very playful. They love space and dogs, respectively.” Richard played with a loose thread on his sleeve while he talked. “My sisters are named Chloe, Cassidy, and Catherine. Chloe's the cheerful one, Cass is confident and outspoken, and Catie's rather quiet.”

  
“Why do all your siblings have C names, but you're Richard?” Gavin inquired.

  
“I'm… not quite sure,” admitted Richard. “My middle name is Caleb, so perhaps that was supposed to be my first name but for some reason my parents changed their minds?” Puzzling it over, he scratched Diva's head as he stood next to the couch. Snapping back to the present, he seemed to recall his predicament. “What am I to do, Gavin? I'm not actually dating anyone, and they want me to bring him by to meet them. I haven't dated in years, which is why this is so significant to them.”

  
“I could pretend to be your boyfriend,” blurted Gavin with no warning. He tensed; there was his habit of acting before thinking.

  
Richard regarded him with thoughtfulness. “Yes, that… could work.” He smiled slightly, but then his eyebrows furrowed and the corners of his mouth curved down. “I can't let you do that, though.”

  
“No, really, I don't mind,” Gavin urged. His mind whispered, _You do so much more than 'not mind’; you want this, Gavin, you want to date Rich—_ Shaking his head to clear it of such thoughts, he awaited his friend's response.

  
“Are you quite sure?” the blue-eyed man started to object. “I don't want to put you in any uncomfortable situations. You'd have to eat with my family, and they'll ask you so many questions it'll almost be an interrogation-”

  
“I'm positive,” Gavin interjected. Laying his hand on top of Richard's, Gavin looked into his blue eyes. “I'm perfectly fine with this, okay? If something makes me uncomfortable, I'd tell ya.” Gently, he squeezed the other man's hand as he continued. “You trust me, right? If you trust me, let me do this for you.”

  
Gavin could see the uncertainty in Richard's eyes, and after a moment, he spoke again. “Alright,” he conceded. “I suppose we'll have to make this work.”

 


	2. Dinner With a Side of Interrogation

Nervously, Gavin swallowed, trying to stifle his pounding headache. He looked over at Richard, who stood next to him as they waited on the doorstep of Richard’s childhood home.

 

The two of them had just taken a two-hour drive, and Gavin had experienced a particularly bad bout of road rage, and Richard had to take over the wheel. He suspected the road rage was the cause of his headache; that, and his constant lack of sleep. Fucking insomnia, he swore he'd die from a lack of sleep, just keel over onto his face one day. Luckily, his usual dose of coffee was enough to keep him awake this time.

 

Richard delivered another sharp knock to the door, and this time a response came in the form of a girl's voice calling, “Just a moment!” The lock clicked, and the door opened.

 

A young woman stood there, one hand resting on the doorknob. She had blonde hair gathered in a ponytail and pulled to one side, and her eyes, like Richard's, were blue, although hers were more of an ocean blue than Richard's icy ones. She'd been smiling when she answered the door, but her smile widened when she saw Richard.

 

Leaning back into the house, she called, “Richard's here!” Her eyes shifted to Gavin, and he was sure she could sense his nervousness. “And he brought his boyfriend!”

 

“Hello to you too, Chloe,” chucked Richard, holding out his arms as he went to hug his sister.

 

“I'm Chloe, as you just heard,” she addressed Gavin. “And you are…?”

 

“Gavin.” Realizing that Chloe would be rather attractive to someone who liked women, Gavin began to feel inferior as he wondered whether the rest of Richard's family would look like models too. Still, he offered a half-smile, hoping he didn't look as awkward as he felt in that instant.

 

Gavin yelled as, with no warning, something barreled through the open door, latching itself onto Richard. It turned out to be a man who looked very nearly a clone of Richard, excepting his brown eyes and shorter height. He even had the same messy brown hair.

 

“Rich! You're back!” the Richard clone exclaimed, hug tight around his brother.

 

“This is Conan. You can tell him apart from Connor because he only wears sweatshirts, while Connor wears sweaters, a beanie, and glasses. He doesn't actually need those, they just fit his hipster aesthetic.” Gavin glanced at Richard while the latter spoke, and Gavin's heart melted at the slight curl of his lips as he hugged his shorter brother. Somebody else from inside the house shouted, “Not a hipster, Rich,” and Gavin assumed that was Connor.

 

“Why don't you come inside?” Chloe suggested, an amused look on her face as she observed the antics of her brothers. She stepped out of the way so they could come in, and Richard gently removed Conan's arms from around himself before entering. Gavin went in last, and Chloe shut the door.

 

“Where's Mom?” questioned Richard, looking around.

 

The third brother's voice came from the stairs. “In the garden.”

 

“As always,” piped up another voice that sounded like Chloe's, so presumably one of the sisters.

 

“Come on, then,” said Richard, taking Gavin's hand in his own, and Gavin tried his hardest not to seem embarrassed; after all, they were supposed to be boyfriends, and boyfriends probably hold hands a lot. “Nice to see you, Connor, Cass,” he shouted up the stairs, then began to lead Gavin by the hand through the house to the back door.

 

They rounded the corner, and Gavin now saw the garden, which took up almost the entire back lawn. A darker-skinned woman knelt next to a rosebush, and she looked up as they approached, eyes resting first on Richard, then on Gavin, and last on their interlocked fingers.

 

“Richard.” She set down the gardening shears in her hand. “It's nice to see you, I'm glad you're doing well.” She raised an eyebrow at Gavin, and Richard hastened to introduce him.

 

“This is Gavin, my boyfriend.” And Gavin would've sworn that a light blush dusted Richard's cheeks as he said this, except for the fact that he was Richard, and people like Richard didn't have crushes on people like Gavin. Gavin squeezed Richard's hand in a way that was meant to be reassuring, but he wasn't actually sure of its effect on the other man.

 

“He's not the _worst_ person for you to be dating,” she mused, looking Gavin up and down, her gaze pausing on his face, and suddenly Gavin felt self-conscious about his stubble and wondered if he should've shaved or something.

 

“Oh, gee, thanks,” slipped out of his mouth, and he froze; Gavin hadn't meant to say anything that could come across as disrespectful, but his inner sarcasm was just _too strong_ to be controlled. Much to his relief, she just narrowed her eyes and turned back to her roses.

  
  


Once they were back in the house, Gavin hastened to apologize. “Sorry that I fucked that up back there.”

 

Confusion flickered across Richard's face. “Fucked it up? On the contrary, Gavin, I think she almost liked you.” Gavin frowned; that didn't add up. “No, really, she doesn't typically… display very much emotion. She approved of you.”

 

As odd as that had been, it did nothing to prepare Gavin for meeting Richard's dad. They now stood in the basement, and Gavin watched in confused fascination as the man flitted around what looked like a body on the table.

 

Richard cleared his throat, and the man looked up.

 

“Richard,” he said, reaching up to push his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. “It's good to see you back.”

 

“It's good to see you guys again,” confessed Richard. “Dad, this is my boyfriend Gavin.” He placed a hand on Gavin's shoulder, and he tried not to get distracted by the firm grip.

 

“People call me Kamski,” he said, his eyes glittering; Gavin now knew where Richard got his eyes from, those cold blue eyes. He held out a hand, and tentatively, Gavin took it, giving it a little shake before letting go.

 

“So, uh, what are you working on?” asked Gavin. He was legitimately curious about Kamski's project.

 

“Dad's been trying to make an android for _years_ ,” Richard informed, amused by the subject.

 

Kamski scoffed in mock offense. “Only _trying?_ I'm succeeding, the process just takes a while.” Leaning over the “body” on the table again, he hummed as he made a few adjustments.

 

“Ah, that's cool,” Gavin remarked. He'd always rather liked sci-fi as a kid, and he still did. The idea of humanoid robots was extremely interesting to him, if a little creepy.

 

Gavin spent the next half an hour chatting with Kamski about how realistic sci-fi movies would actually end up being, and although Richard had seen Gavin's hidden nerd side before, he still found it ~~cute~~ amusing.

 

Once dinner was ready, Gavin tried to sit across from Richard, but the latter sent him a warning look and gestured to the chair to his right. Nervously, Gavin sat down next to Richard, and Chloe took the space he would have been in, Connor sitting across from Gavin to her left. Grinning to himself, Conan seated himself on Gavin's other side, and the other family members filled in all of the other chairs but one.

 

Chloe chatted quietly with one of her sisters; this sister had a braid over one shoulder. Gavin attempted to recall how Richard had described his sisters; “Cass” had been what he'd called “the confident one,” and, since this girl seemed rather animated as she talked, gesturing wildly with her hands, he thought it was a safe bet this was Cass. The third sister (Catherine—Catie, he'd said?) kept mostly to herself, eyes on her food, but occasionally she'd glance over at Gavin before quickly looking away again.

 

Gavin jumped as Connor, across from him, slammed his hands down on the table over-excitedly. Connor's eyes glittered-slightly maliciously, actually-and Gavin realized, when Richard had said it would be an interrogation, he'd meant an _interrogation._ Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw Kamski roll his eyes, but he couldn't look away, not when Connor was leaning on the table so threateningly.

 

“So, _Gavin,_ tell us a little about yourself.” Connor grinned maliciously across the table at him.

 

“Gavin Reed, 21,” he hastened to say, feeling threatened if he didn't answer quickly. “I'm taking criminal psychology at the same school as Richard, and I own two cats.”

 

“Interesting,” replied Connor, hands clasped now.

 

Conan cut in. “How'd you meet Richard?” Oh. Great. So now they were _all_ in on it?

 

“Uh, he was looking for somebody to share an apartment with. Funny story, actually. He'd been staying with a friend, and she called him while he was touring my apartment to tell him a cousin or something had decided to visit with no warning and the cousin had to stay over, so she didn't have a place for him anymore,” rambled Gavin with a nervous chuckle. In fact, that particular friend of Richard had come to visit to check out his new place, and Gavin thought they'd gotten along decently.

 

Chloe's head turned to look at Richard. “Really? Tina kicked you out?”

 

“Yes, but it all worked itself out,” Richard said, avoiding eye contact with anyone seated around the table. “Gavin had a place for me to stay that night, and Tina brought my things over in the morning.” He played with his food, poking at the vegetables on his plate with his fork.

 

“How many dates have you gone on?” Cass questioned next, pointing at him as she spoke.

 

Richard jumped in, to Gavin's relief. “We've gone on exactly two. Neither of us is very comfortable with PDA.” The lie seemed to work, as nobody looked suspicious, and Gavin wondered idly if Richard would be good at undercover work.

 

Chloe asked the question this time. “What do you like about him?” Of course she'd ask a question like that, she seemed like the kind of girl who'd be optimistic and a hopeless romantic.

 

Gavin thought for a moment, trying to figure out an honest answer. “He's got the kind of eyes that pull you in, ya know? And he accepts me, doesn't mind my weird habits, which not a lot of people do.” He had to stop himself before he recited an entire verbal essay on all the little things he loved about Richard. Then reminded himself that love was kind of a strong word, he was only _extremely_ attached to him… who was he kidding?

 

Connor seemed to deeply consider his next question, eventually blurting out a “Hey, have you guys had sex yet?” before clapping a hand over his mouth. Catie gasped, which was the first sound Gavin had heard from her. Richard's face turned an intense pink, and he yelped, “Connor!”

 

The blue-eyed man took a second to calm down before continuing. “That is _not_ a polite question to ask.” He glared sternly at his brother, who stood there sheepishly.

 

“Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to ask that.” Slowly, Connor sat back down, still eyeing Gavin as he picked up his fork.

 

“I think that's enough for today,” Kamski interjected, seemingly amused by the conversation, although it was hard to tell, as he seemed to always have the barest hint of a smile on his face, and his eyes rarely matched his expression. “Let them eat now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this a chaotic enough family dinner?
> 
> And you see what I meant when I said that in this universe I had other plans for Kamski  
> In this AU, Amanda's a good mom, just a little strict, especially compared to how eccentric the rest of the family is


	3. Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's kind of a short chapter, I'm sorry, guys! School is super stressful somehow :( I'll try to do better next week, I wrote this entire chapter today
> 
> (New upload sched.! We All Wear Masks is Sat & Sun, the Undertale fic is Tue/Wed, this fic'll be Wed/Thur, and my chat AU is Fridays, if you wanted to know that)

Gavin was flooded with relief that the dinner was over; Richard hadn't exaggerated when he'd warned Gavin about his family, if anything, he'd  _ under _ stated their enthusiasm. His nerves were absolutely shot, and he was ready to turn in for the night.

 

Richard almost looked nervous in the way he stood, posture stick-straight, hands clasped, which Gavin knew by now that he only did when he worried. He let out a little puff of air before speaking.

 

“We're expected to share my bed in my old room, as we don't currently have extra space; we barely had enough rooms for each of us kids to have our own, let alone a guest room.” He rocked on his feet, a movement so small it was nearly imperceptible, but Gavin noticed.

 

“So? What's the problem? We've shared a bed before,” said Gavin. He didn't see the issue.

 

“I haven't lived here in a few years,” Richard replied, and it suddenly hit Gavin: Richard was worried about what Gavin would think of his childhood room, of course he'd be preoccupied over something so inconsequential.

 

“Hey.” Gavin put a hand on Richard's shoulder, having to reach up to do so. “Chill, okay? I'm sure it's not  _ that _ embarrassing.”

 

Richard still looked stressed. “Alright, but could I ask that you stay out here for a few minutes? There's something I have to do.”

 

“Yeah, sure.” Gavin began to count the ceiling tiles as he waited for Richard, who'd slipped into the room through such a small opening that Gavin hadn't been able to catch even a glimpse of the interior. After a few minutes, the door opened from the other side.

 

Richard peered at him through the crack between the door and the wall. “Promise not to laugh at anything?”

 

“Jeez, okay, I promise,” huffed Gavin, and the door opened wider, Richard stepping out of the way for him to enter before closing it again.

 

The first thing Gavin noticed was that the walls were painted the paler cousin of sky blue. The second thing he saw was that all of the photos in the room had been placed face down, and immediately he knew why Richard had insisted on entering the room ahead of him.

 

Gavin had to admit to himself that he was slightly disappointed that Richard's room didn't have a lot of embarrassing material Gavin could use against him. He flopped down on the ocean-blue bedspread, and shortly after, Richard sat stiffly beside him. He looked up at Richard, eyes curious as the taller man exhaled heavily, his own eyes trained on the gray carpet.

 

“Seriously, Rich.” Gavin sat up. “Chill. There really isn't much here to embarrass you, just stop stressing.” He laid a hand on top of one of Richard's and tried to convince himself that it didn't mean anything; they were just friends, and sometimes friends get touchy with each other. Richard looked up at Gavin's face now, eyes searching for  _ something _ Gavin wasn't sure he could provide.

 

After a long moment, they realized they'd been staring into each other's eyes and holding hands, and they jumped apart, but not without a mutter of “We spent too long pretending to be a couple, what, are we gonna act like one in private too?” from Gavin.

 

Richard bent over to examine their luggage. They didn't plan to stay long, so each of them had only packed one change of clothes, as well as a book that Richard had brought just in case, so their bags were on the small side.

 

Richard coughed, and Gavin glanced at his face to see he was blushing. “I, uh, need to change, but  _ they'd— _ ” he jerked his head towards the door to indicate his family “—probably find it weird for two people who are dating to not change in the same room. Do you think you could… turn around?” Now Gavin's face was red as well as he realized the implications, and he choked out a “sure” as he turned around.

 

Gavin tried not to focus on the subtle sounds of fabric rustling, but his mind was going wild with images of smooth skin in places Gavin wouldn't normally see—and he breathed a sigh of relief when Richard told him he could turn around again.

  
Richard went to brush his teeth, which Gavin had already done, so he chose to crawl into bed early. He sat in the dark, thinking, until the  _ click _ of the door brought him back to semi-alertness. Not long after, Richard climbed into bed behind him, and Gavin felt the other man's arms wrap around his waist. He realized he'd missed this—but did he miss it in a general sense, or with Richard  _ in particular? _ He drowned out the thoughts in his head with thoughts of sleep, and soon enough, he drifted off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't noticed by now, I have NO pattern when it comes to chapter titles, oops ^^'

**Author's Note:**

> Richard: I accidentally told my family I have a bf but I don't what do I do  
> Gavin: uhhhhhh  
> Gavin, inwardly: holyshitholyshitholyshit  
> Gavin, outwardly: what iffff I pretend to be ur bf  
> Richard: no that'd be awkward for u  
> Gavin: shut up okay we're friends lemme do this for u  
> Gavin, inwardly: u want to date him for real but ure a phckin coward lol


End file.
